Godzilla 2014: Monster Franchise Remains Popular Even After 60 Years

Godzilla is back in 2014, with a likely blockbuster proving that the aquatic monster from Japan is still a big draw even after 60 years.

Later this month, the scaly green giant will march back into theaters in the reboot of sorts, simply titled Godzilla. The movie has a cast of big names that include Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olson along with some longtime Godzilla enthusiasts in control, producer Thomas Tull and director Gareth Edwards.

“We were trying to put more into it than just a simple monster movie,” Edwards said after the screening. “Because the original was definitely a metaphor for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a very serious film, so we were inspired to try and reflect that.”

Edwards gives a nod to the history of the Godzilla franchise. When the film first debuted in 1954 in Japan, it represented to them to destruction that the United States had unleashed with nuclear strikes in World War II.

In the Godzilla 2014 remake, the monster actually feeds on nations with nuclear arms.

“The West… we police the world and go, ‘You can’t have nuclear power. You can’t have it. But we can have it, and we have nuclear weapons,’ ” Edwards said. “And what if there were a creature that existed, creatures that were attracted to radiation? Suddenly the tables would be turned, and we’d be desperately trying to get rid of that stuff.”

Edwards said he drew inspiration from Steven Spielberg’s summer blockbusters, and even has a shot that pays homage to a famous scene in Jaws where the outline of the giant shark is seen beneath Quint’s boat.

“I grew up watching Spielberg movies,” he said. “What they did so well — as well as having epic, fantastic spectacle — they made the characters feel real and human. We were trying to do the same thing here.”

The Godzilla 2014 remake will be the 32nd time that the giant reptile has graced the big screen,